Monday, February 27, 2012

Bruce Surtees, cinematographer on more than 50 films, including Bob Fosse's "Lenny," for which he Surtees was Oscar nominated, and Clint Eastwood pics "Dirty Harry," "High Plains Drifter," "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and Escape From Alcatraz," died Thursday, Feb. 23. He was 74.

Surtees made 14 films starring Eastwood, most of them directed by Eastwood. They began their association on films directed by Don Siegel including "Coogan's Bluff" (1968) and 1970's "Two Mules for Sister Sara," on which Surtees was the camera operator; "The Beguiled" (1971) (Surtees' first credit as d.p.); and "Dirty Harry" (1971). When Eastwood made his directorial debut in 1971 with "Play Misty for Me," he chose Surtees as cinematographer. They also worked together on "Honkytonk Man," "Firefox," Sudden Impact" and "Pale Rider," all directed and starring Eastwood; "Tightrope," starring Eastwood; and 1995's "The Stars Fell on Henrietta," exec produced by Eastwood.

Surtees, whose propensity for low-ley lighting led to the sobriquet "the prince of darkness," drew an Oscar nomination in 1975 for his work on Bob Fosse's critically hailed Lenny Bruce biopic that starred Dustin Hoffman. The film was shot in black and white.

He was also praised for his work on Arthur Penn's 1975 film "Night Moves" and Gordon Parks' "Leadbelly" (1976).

Among his many other film credits were "Risky Business" and "Beverly Hills Cop."

Surtees also worked in television and was Emmy nominated in 1999 for his work on the A&E telepic "Dash and Lilly." Other credits included "Murder in a Small Town," "That Championship Season" and "American Tragedy."

He was the son of a cinematographer, Robert L. Surtees, who won Oscars for "King Solomon's Mines," "The Bad and the Beautiful" and "Ben Hur" and was nominated a total of 14 times, including four years in a row in the late 1970s. The elder Surtees died in 1985.

Bruce Mohr Powell Surtees was born in Los Angeles and educated at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He began his career as a technician at Disney and early on worked for his father as camera operator on films including "The Hallelujah Trail" and "The Lost Command."

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Lina Romay, a pretty brunette who starred in numerous risqué features for longtime companion Jesus Franco, has died. According to online reports, Romay died of cancer on February 15. She was 57. Born Rosa María Almirall Martínez in Barcelona on June 25, 1954, Romay began her film career while in her late teens. The source for her artistic name was another Lina Romay, a singer with Xavier Cugat's band who had featured roles in movies such as Love Laughs at Andy Hardy and Joe Palooka in the Big Fight.

The Spanish Romay's movies, however, were anything but G-rated fare. Her gialli and erotica efforts had titles such as Tender and Perverse Emanuelle (1973), Justine and the Whip (1979), The White Slave (1985), and Alone Against Terror (1987). From the early '70s to 2005, she was featured in more than 100 productions. Among Romay's movies directed (and oftentimes edited/scored/shot/etc.) by Jesus Franco (aka Jess Franco and countless other pseudonyms) were Swedish Nympho Slaves (1977), The Sadist of Notre Dame (1979), White Cannibal Queen (1981), Hellhole Women (1981), and Macumba Sexual (1983). Romay also helped Franco in the directorial/editing process, and under the pseudonyms Lulu Laverne/Candy Coster directed a dozen movies in the 1980s. Additionally, she was perfectly comfortable performing in sexually explicit fare. Needless to say, the Franco-Romay movies were no-budget efforts. Yet, the couple managed to carve out for themselves a lasting place in the realm of erotica/gialli filmmaking.

"It's said than I am an exhibitionist," Romay once (supposedly) remarked. "Every actor is one — I gladly accept that. I'm not a hypocrite."

Musicians Hall of Famer Billy Strange, a songwriter, guitarist and arranger who aided the hit-making efforts of Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra, has died in Nashville at age 81.

Mr. Strange wrote the musical arrangement for Sinatra’s smash, “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” directing standup bass player George Burghofer to play the song’s signature sliding descent.

Mr. Strange also played the haunting guitar part on Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” a minimalist recording popularized in the new century as part of the soundtrack for the Quentin Tarantino movie Kill Bill. And he helped arrange “Somethin’ Stupid,” Ms. Sinatra’s duet with father Frank Sinatra.

For Presley, Mr. Strange contributed hit compositions including “A Little Less Conversation” and “Memories.” He also wrote Chubby Checker’s hit, “Limbo Rock.”

A member of the “Wrecking Crew” of Los Angeles-based session musicians in the 1960s, Mr. Strange played guitar on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album, as well as on recordings by The Everly Brothers, Randy Newman, Willie Nelson, Nat King Cole and many others.

Mr. Strange was raised in Long Beach, Calif., and he was performing on local radio with his father and mother as a young boy. He began playing guitar at age 14, and touring with other musicians at 16.

Though he worked in the rodeo, as a truck driver and as a stunt man in his 20s, he settled into a musical life, performing early on with Spade Cooley, Roy Rogers, Count Basie, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant and others.

His striking guitar work soon caught the attention of major producers, and he became an essential member of the informal group known as “The Wrecking Crew.” And he released a series of solo works in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s that highlighted his unusual tone and musicianship.

When Presley came to Los Angeles for sessions, he employed Mr. Strange as a player and arranger, and the two became fast friends, riding motorcycles together and sitting and playing with baby Lisa Marie Presley together.

Mr. Strange moved to Middle Tennessee in the early 1970s, and in Tennessee he ran a publishing company for Frank and Nancy Sinatra.

Survivor, cause of death and memorial service information is incomplete.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Word has come from actress Monika Swinn that the prolific French actor/director Olivier Mathot (Claude Plaut) died in December, 2011. She had no further details on the cause, place or exact time/date of his demise.

Born Claude Albert Plaut on June 22, 1924 in Paris, France, Mathor was a familiar face in numerous Eurocine co-productions from “Crimson”,(1973), in which he played alongside Paul Naschy, to “Devil Kiss” (1975), a Spanish French Eurocine coproduction in which he appeared with the late Silvia Solar, “Maniac Killer” (1988) with Chuck Connors, to numerous Jess Franco directed-Eurocine produced thrillers such as “Exorcism” (1974) and its reedited 1979 version (“El Sadico de Notre Dame”), “Shining Sex” in which he appeared with Ms. Swinn (1975), and “Kiss Me Killer” (1977). He also appeared in Jess Franco’s “The Midnight Party (1976), Michel Lemoine's “Desire Under the Sun” (1982), among many other titles. His acting career began in 1944 and his last listed role, according to the IMDb, was in the rarely seen Jess Franco/Jean Rollin crime/kidnapping adventure “À la poursuite de Barbara” (1991). He appeared under the aliases Oliver Mathews, Oliver Matthau, Claude Plaud.

Mathot also directed a number of films as well as scenes in alternate [French] Eurocine versions of Jess Franco films, such as “Cecilia” (1980) and “The Diamonds of Kilimanjaro” (1983). A reliable actor with a distinguished appearance he could effectively play criminals, mad scientists, police officers and comedy. – Bob Monel

His Euro-westerns included “The Return of Clay Stone”, “Three Dollars of Lead” (both 1964) and “Convoy of Women” (1974).

Monday, February 20, 2012

Ric started his professional career in New York City where he owned and operated a photography studio employing some seven assistants. He shot fashion and advertising illustration for such magazines as G.Q.; Vogue: Glamour; Seventeen; Playboy and for such advertising clients as Jaguar; Bigelow Carpets; DuPont; Royal Crown Cola; Hanes Stockings among others. In 1970 Ric moved to Los Angeles and entered the Motion Picture Industry as a cinematographer. Initially shooting television series such as Emergency; Police Story and City of Angels he quickly moved into MOW’s shooting some forty titles in a period of five years, garnering four Emmy nominations and winning the Emmy Award in 1976 for Captains and the Kings. In 1979 he got his major break with Walter Hill shooting ‘The Longriders’. Critically acclaimed, the notoriety kept him busy shooting feature films for the next fifteen years. In 2002 Ric and his wife moved to the Denver area where he has been kept busy shooting real estate, portraits and weddings. In addition, Ric now teaches cinematography and lighting at the Colorado Film School.

Al DeLory, who produced and arranged Glen Campbell smashes “Gentle On My Mind,” “Galveston,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman,” died on Feb. 5 at age 82.

Mr. DeLory’s productions help define country-pop music and enabled Campbell’s transition from session musician to superstar. His death was mentioned by Campbell’s wife, Kim, at a Grammy event on Feb. 11, but no cause of death has been released.

Born Alfred De Lory on Jan. 31, 1930, in Los Angeles, he was the son of a studio musician. He studied piano as a child and began arranging music while in the Army, for an Army service band. Upon his discharge, he worked as a piano player in studio orchestras and in clubs, and in the late 1950s he penned “Mr. Custer,” a novelty hit for Larry Verne.

In the early 1960s, Mr. DeLory began working as a studio musician in Los Angeles, and in that capacity he worked with artists including The Beach Boys (playing on the famed Pet Sounds album), Tina Turner and The Righteous Brothers.

Asked by Capitol Records chief Ken Nelson to produce Campbell, Mr. DeLory set about finding and writing arrangements for songs that remain staples of Campbell’s live performances.

“It was Glen’s voice and the strength of those songs that inspired me to write arrangements that exceeded my expectations,” Mr. DeLory wrote in a biography. Indeed, those arrangements remain marvels of elegance and sophistication, and Mr. DeLory worked with Campbell to establish a sound that served as a template for other pop-leaning country artists.

“I believe that country-pop is definitely here to stay,” Mr. DeLory asserted 40 years ago, and the ensuing decades have bolstered that opinion.

Based in Los Angeles, Mr. DeLory also produced movie soundtracks and recordings for artists such as Dobie Gray, The Turtles, Wayne Newton and The Lettermen, and he released four albums of his own on Capitol. But his work with Campbell remained his calling card. He won two Grammy Awards for those productions, and neither he nor Campbell won any when working separately.

Mr. DeLory’s late-life years were spent in Nashville, where he moved following his wife’s death. In Nashville, he began performing and recording Latin jazz music. His Floreando and Hot Gandinga albums drew raves for their intricate and danceable soundscapes.

“He was always following the muse,” said bass player and Nashville Musicians Union president Dave Pomeroy. “A beautiful soul who made many lifetimes’ worth of great music.”

Mr. DeLory’s daughter, Donna De Lory, is a singer, songwriter and producer who performed for years as a backing vocalist for Madonna.

Legenday actress Lydia Lamaison died this morning at the age of 97 of natural circumstances at her residence in Buenos Aires Capital city. The lost for the artistic universe was confirmed by City Cultural Minister Hernán Lombardi.

The oficial told reporters that “Following the family’s wishes, there will be no funeral service for Lydia. Likewise, the Lamaison family asked that those who’d like to pay their last respects should make a donation to the ‘Casa del Teatro’ instead of sending floral arrangements.”

Saturday, February 18, 2012

A contract player who starred in close to 40 films for such studios and 20th Century Fox, Columbia and Universal, Knox played the lead opposite Lon Chaney Jr. in 1942's The Mummy's Tomb, worked with Abbott and Costello and in several Joe Palooka movies based on the famed comic strip. She was also a pin-up girl during World War II, appearing in Yank magazine.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Knox studied fashion in Manhattan and pursued a career in fashion design, modeling some of her own creations in Vogue magazine before her good looks found Hollywood calling in the late '30s.

Knox married football star Tom Harmon in 1944, and her wedding dress was made from the silk of the parachute that saved his life after his plane was shot down over China during WWII. The couple settled in Los Angeles and had three children: Mark and his older sisters Kristin and Kelly. Happily married for 46 years, Knox established herself as an accomplished impressionist painter.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to The Lange Foundation in honor of Knox's enduring love for animals.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Australian-born actor Laurie Main, best known as host and narrator of the Disney Channel's "Welcome to Pooh Corner," died in Los Angeles on Feb. 8. He was 89.
Main studied acting with Agnes Moorehead after coming to the U.S. in 1960. He worked on Broadway, debuting in "First Impressions" in 1959 and playing opposite Eartha Kitt in "Jolly's Progress" the same year. He appeared in "Lord Pengo" in 1963 and in "13 Rue de l'Amour" in 1978.

Main's extensive film roles include "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo," "Freaky Friday" and "Mom and Dad Save the World." TV credits include "Facts of Life Goes to Paris," "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," "Bewitched," "Family Affair," "Mayberry R.F.D." and "That Girl."

Born in Melbourne, Laurence G. Main left home at 16 and later moved to England, where his repertory theater work included "Diary of a Nobody."

Arms began his career on radio, moving up to minor screen roles during World War II as a contract player with Warner Brothers and later as a freelance performer, mostly in Westerns.

He was well-known for his 1957 hit single, “Cinco Robles (Five Oaks),” which entered the charts on Jan. 12, 1957, and stayed for 15 weeks, peaking at No. 22. He also released an album “Where Can A Wanderer Go” in 1957.

From 1952 to 1957, Arms was best known as a vocalist on “Your Hit Parade,” an NBC television series that reviewed the popular songs of the day and on which a regular cast of vocalists would perform the top seven songs of the week.

According to information found at Wikipedia’s website, Arms appeared on many television shows, including such popular series as “Perry Mason,” “December Bride,” “Lock Up,” “Gunsmoke,” “Have Gun Will Travel,” “Rawhide,” “Buckskin,” “Dragnet,” and “Hardcastle and McCormack.”

Arms authored an autobiography in 2005, “My Hit Parade ... and a Few Misses.”

He and his wife, Mary Lynne, had lived in Palm Springs, Calif., and later moved to Hamilton.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Lamporte - St.Clair Funeral Home in Hamilton.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Death of Frank Braña , the Spanish actor who seldom appeared in the credits

The action film specialist, participated in hundreds of films shot in Spain.

DAVID MARTOS 02/13/2012

Francisco Braña Perez was born in Pola de Allande, Asturias, Spain on February 24, 1934, then become 'Frank Brana', the stage name he chose to appear on the big screen with Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston. However, his name was not in the credits in those colorful yellow letters called 'Spaghetti westerns'. No. He considered his profession, "a job" - was left to the action scenes, fights, and basically the death scenes, were perfect. That was his specialty: 'Death with dignity in the cinema', the title he chose for his autobiography.

In a press release, AISGE [Performers Management Society] reported the death Monday February 13, 2012 at the age 77 Frank Brana, from the mortuary chapel of Carr, in Madrid. He began his professional life in the mines, was excluded from the Army, and ended up working as a driver in Madrid. "I got the opportunity to work as a chauffeur for a man in Madrid. He told me of some screen tests to work in films, as a specialist. They asked if I could ride a horse and I said yes, but not entirely true. .. ", he says in his book.

His first small role, small, was in “Café de Chinitas” (1960). He then went from there to appearing with Charlton Heston and Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston ... That was a huge step. Frank participated in “King of Kings” (1960) as a Roman soldier with Carmen Sevilla, “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964) “A Few Dollars More” (1965) as Blackie. In the sixties and seventies, Hollywood greats were leaving. One of his last roles, this time with text, was that of Don Luis in “Tiovivo c. 1950” by José Luis Garci.

BRANA, Frank (Francisco Braña Pérez)

Born: 2/24/1934, Pola de Allande, Asturias, Spain

Died: 2/13/2012, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Frank Brana’s westerns – actor, stuntman:

Cavalry Charge – 1964

A Fistful of Dollars – 1964 (Baxter gang member)

Ride and Kill – 1964 (driver)

Apache Fury – 1964 (Burt henchman)

Two Violent Men – 1964

Tomb of the Pistolero – 1964 (Black Rider)

Murieta – 1965 (rapist)

The Last Tomahawk – 1965 (corporal)

Massacre at Fort Grant – 1965 (John)

Sunscorched – 1965

For a Few Dollars More – 1965 (Blackie)

Adiós Gringo – 1965 (Ranchester henchman)

A Coffin for the Sheriff – 1965 (Rojo/Wolf henchman)

Django Does Not Forgive – 1966 (killer)

Ringo from Nebraska – 1966 (Dickson)

The Big Gundown – 1966 (Widow’s ranch hand)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 (bounty hunter)

The Texican – 1966 (Marshal Vic)

The Ugly Ones – 1967

For a Few Bullets More – 1967 (teamster)

Django Kill! – 1967 (Tembler’s henchman)

Rattler Kid – 1967 (Tom)

God Forgives… I Don’t! – 1967 (Lou)

Face to Face – 1967 (Jason)

Sugar Colt – 1967 (Haberbrook henchman)

15 Scaffolds for a Killer – 1968 (Adam)

Ringo the Lone Rider – 1968 (Juez)

All Out – 1968

I Want Him Dead – 1968 (Berger)

Pistol for 100 Coffins – 1968 (Joe)

The Secret of Captain O’Hara – 1968 (Henry)

And for a Roof Full of Stars for a Roof – 1968

Ace High – 1968 (Harold henchman)

Once Upon a Time in the West – 1968 (Frank’s henchman)

Zorro the Lawman – 1969 (Dominguez)

Death on High Mountain – 1969

Outlaw of Red River – 1969 (bandido)

Garringo – 1969 (Bill)

Cowards Don’t Pray – 1969

The Price of Power – 1969 (Mortimer)

When Satan Grips the Colt – 1970 (outlaw)

Gunman in Town – 1970 (‘One Eye’/Sam Putnam)

Vamos a matar Sartana – 1971

A Bullet for a Stranger – 1971

The Buzzards and Crows Will Dig Your Grave – 1972 (Glenn Kovacs)

The Boldest Job in the West – 1972 (Sergeant Jess Calloway)

Kill the Poker Player – 1972 (Sheriff Luis Burton)

The Prey of Vultures – 1972

God in Heaven… Arizona on Earth – 1972 (Austin Styles)

Bad Man’s River - 1972

3 Supermen of the West – 1973 (Brad)

Yankee Dudler – 1973 (gunman)

Demasiados muertos para Tex - 1973

Fasthand is Still My Name 1973 (Quintano/Quincy)

Dallas – 1974

If You Shoot You Live – 1975 (Marco)

In the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Colt – 1975 (Judge Finley)

Bruns appeared on two seasons of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," playing Mary's father on the soap-opera parody. He also spent three years with Jackie Gleason on his comedy-variety show in the mid-1960s.

Born in Pipestone, Minn., Bruns attended Yale University's drama school, then began his career in New York on the stage and as a prolific actor in TV commercials.

He later went to Los Angeles, appearing in more than 40 feature films, including "Flashdance," ''The Stunt Man" and "My Favorite Year."

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Standout in TV Westerns also appeared in dozens of shows like "Maverick," "Black Saddle" and "Branded."

Peter Breck, who played a hot-headed son of California ranch owner Barbara Stanwyck on the 1960s TV Western The Big Valley, died Monday in Vancouver after a long illness. He was 82.

Before the 1965-1969 ABC series, the hark-haired, rugged-looking Breck had worked as a regular on two other TV Westerns: Maverick, as Doc Holliday opposite James Garner, and Black Saddle, on which he played a gunman turned lawyer opposite future Gilligan’s Island actor Russell Johnson.

A native of Haverhill, Mass., and the son of a jazz musician, Breck scored a contract at Warner Bros. and appeared in dozens of shows from the mid-1950s to the early 2000s, including The Virginian, Hawaiian Eye, Perry Mason, Lawman, Branded, Gunsmoke, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy and John Doe.

His film work included roles in Thunder Road (1958), I Want to Live! (1958), The Beatniks (1960), Portrait of a Mobster (1961), Lad: A Dog (1962), Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor (1963) and Benji (1974).

On Big Valley, Breck played Nick Barkley, who lost his temper easily and was often spoiling for a fight. Nick was the brother of the characters played by Richard Long, Charles Briles and Linda Evans and the half-brother to Lee Majors. He stayed close with Stanwyck after the show finished production.

In the mid-1980s, Breck moved to Vancouver, worked in theater and opened an acting school. His wife of 51 years, Diane, wrote on his website that he was suffering from dementia and had been hospitalized since Jan. 10.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Renowned Turkish screen and stage actor Baykal Kent, best known for his comedic performances, died on Monday in the northwestern city of Bursa, Turkish news agencies reported on Monday.

Kent died early Monday morning in the intensive care unit of the Bursa Public Hospital, where had been receiving treatment since Jan. 24 for heart failure, the Anatolia news agency reported. He was 69.

Kent is best remembered for his comedic roles on both the silver screen and onstage, particularly for his work with veteran thespian Ferhan Şensoy, with whom he worked for some 25 years.

Born in İstanbul in 1943, Kent started his acting career as an extra in Yeşilçam movies when he was 16. He turned to theater at the age of 26. During his 54-year career, Kent played in more than 35 movies, a majority of which were comedies, as well as numerous roles in TV shows and had a 25-year stint with Şensoy’s İstanbul-based theater company, Ortaoyuncular.

Kent significantly cut down his silver screen work after 1987, and with the ‘90s boom in privately run television stations in Turkey, he started appearing in numerous comedy shows.

He relocated to Bursa a few years ago, where he had been living in a retirement home, and taught theater classes at the local Yıldırım Municipality’s theater school.

Kent will be buried in a funeral in İstanbul on Tuesday, the Cihan news agency reported.

About Me

Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1946 I have a BA degree in American History from Cal St. Northridge. I've been researching the American West and western films since the early 1980s and visiting filming sites in Spain and the U.S.A. Elected a member of the Spaghetti Western Hall of Fame 2010.